A very interesting film is not so much about Herbalife as it is about the way a corporation uses to suck huge sums of money out of people (as one viewer correctly observed, it is Robin Hood, but vice versa). This is the story of one of the most unethical business models of our time, if not the most unethical. The essence of this problem is that it is difficult for victims to sue the corporation, because the corporation in any case will immediately declare that it has not violated any laws. Technically it is. However, the film is not limited to this, because in parallel with this, we are engaged in a rather interesting battle between two investors from Wall Street: William Ackman, who decided to play down against the Herbalife Corporation, while making statements in the media that Herbalife is nothing more than a pyramid scheme (which means he is financially interested) and Carl Icahn, who decided to invest in Herbalife, thanks to which the share price crawled up. In other words, there are two storylines in the film: the first is related to Herbalife and its former associates/employees, overwhelmingly immigrants from South America, and the second tells about the confrontation between two investors, where the stake, in addition to the reputation of Herbalife, is a large amount of money. In this sense, the film is not as unambiguous as it may seem initially.
The first and most important component is a description of the business or business model that Herbalife uses. Like I said, it's a pretty sophisticated way of sucking money. Classic multi-level marketing works here, where those at the top get most of the profits from those at the bottom (pyramids). As for most of the people involved in this Herbalife business, the backbone of the pyramid, they are more likely to lose money than they make it. This is funny to observe, given that, in fact, they perform the role of a retailer like Walmart, with the only difference that they often work in the red (retail also has a low margin, but they take the amount and speed of turnover of the presented product). And if you think about it, the question immediately arises: why does Herbalife not sell its products through major retailers, like Walmart, as most manufacturers do? In extreme cases, like Amazon, through its website? That’s because the profits don’t come from selling Herbalife products, but from hiring followers who buy products from Herbalife. The advantage here is that the person who finds followers willing to sell Herbalife products gets a percentage, so the more people he finds, the more money he gets. Yes, over time, most people will drop out due to constant failures and work in the negative, but new ones will come in their place, who will continue to buy Herbalife products.
In this scheme, there is such an important element as the constant meetings of the participants in this chain, which are held according to a typical scheme, most often reminiscent of a Tony Robbins show or a sect meeting. It is always a large-scale and well-planned spectacle, taking place in a huge hall, with a lot of people, a huge stage, a myriad of lighting fixtures and most importantly, incendiary speeches. The film shows exactly such meetings, which demonstrate the success of the participants standing at the top of this pyramid, thereby creating the illusion that anyone can get to it (become a multimillionaire, etc.) and that you just need to try. Shows like this never happen in regular corporations (an important marker for those who want to avoid getting involved). Yes, there are, of course, annual meetings or training events, but this is never something like a sect meeting or a show organized by another new-fangled guru. In the case of Herbalife, just one kind of spectacle should raise suspicions about the company.
And it actually creates them, so the company has a very well-designed recruiting policy in those communities whose members are least educated (African Americans, Hispanics, etc.). For Herbalife, and the film demonstrates it, there is no point in recruiting on university and college campuses, and therefore there are no or virtually no well-educated people among its victims. Instead, what we see in the film is, overwhelmingly, the stories of Latinos who complain that the company cheated them. The subtlety of this point is that the company can say that, they say, no one cheated, and these people simply do not know how to do business, i.e. sell products Herbalife. There, others can, and these simply failed, and so no one deceived them. However, Herbalife is not completely honest, because it uses dishonest techniques of social psychology (engineering) and is not completely frank with new employees, promising mountains of profit, but in fact does not help them in selling their products (I think an analogue of Herbalife products can be bought in supermarkets or pharmacies, at a lower price, so the question arises: how can Herbalife not go into the red at costs, if competitors have lower prices?). In fact, in the film we see videos where Herbalife employees themselves say that they are engaged in the business of recruiting, not selling goods.
As for the second line of the story, there is a battle between two investors, one of whom portrays (and may be) a fighter against Herbalife, stating where possible that it is a pyramid scheme and therefore should be closed. On the one hand, we want to believe this investor, but on the other, we see that he is financially interested in the collapse of the company. The question is, how honest is he with us? If he’s fighting Herbalife, why would he even get into this downside game? Why not attack the company without financial involvement? It’s a very interesting question and the film doesn’t answer it. I think that’s a position that’s been chosen because the film pushes the audience to decide for themselves how honest William Ackman is with us. By the way, in this sense, the film tries to be neutral, albeit with a slight bias towards those (Latin Americans) who believe that Herbalife deceived them. Nevertheless, the film gives a voice to the opposite side, although they do not often look very convincing. On the other hand, the arguments of Herbalife's opponents are quite substantial. In the film, we don’t see the sincerity of those who climbed the financial ladder thanks to Herbalife. These people sort of go in the background (as do the speeches of CEO Herbalife). Overall, I cannot say that the film is purely anti-Herbalife (albeit with reservations). However, it is still noticeable where the film directs the viewer.